British holidaymakers stranded after emergency landing

Sunday 18 August 2013 14:57 BST

Phones on a plane: Virgin Atlantic

British holidaymakers en route to New York have been stranded overnight in a small Canadian airport after making an emergency landing.

More than 250 passengers and crew on board Virgin Atlantic's
flight VS25 from Heathrow had to make the unscheduled touch down at
Gander Airport in Newfoundland after a technical fault believed to do
with refuelling.

The plane will not be used to fly the passengers on to John F Kennedy Airport, a Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman said.

Another aircraft is on its way to transport them, she said.

The airline is not able to say what caused the technical fault,
the spokeswoman said, as engineers are currently performing tests.

The area surrounding Gander Airport is small and there were no
available hotel rooms for passengers who had no option but to spend the
night inside the terminal.